Altered oligosaccharide moietis of the cell's surface appear to be involved in several properties typical of the cancer cell such as decreased cellular adhesion, altered antigenicity and altered agglutinability by certain plant lectins. We have shown dramatic alterations in the metabolism of the fucosylsphingoglycolipids of RNA virus-transformed animal cells, as compared to normal cells and the basis of the change may be analogous to that responsible for the eemergence of Lea-specific ceramide pentasaccharide and other glycolipids and the absence of other blood group antigens in some human cancers. In addition, a positive correlation between the altered fucosylsphingolipid metabolism and oncogenicity has been observed. We wish to further define the role of fucosylsphingolipids in virus-induced cancers. We propose to examine structural differences in the fucosylsphingolipids of normal and virus-transformed cells. This aspect of the problem will require the use of several chromatographic and electrophoretic procedures, such as thin layer chromatography, gas liquid chromatography and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, for isolation of the lipids and glycoproteins, for preliminary characterization of these, and for identification of the constituent monosaccharides. In addition, a metabolic approach designed to locate the metabolic lesion in virus-transformed cells and to examine the relationship between altered fucosylsphingolipid and fucosylglycoprotein metabolism is formulated. This approach will involve determining the turnover rates of fucosylsphingolipids and fucosylglycoproteins in various cellular components as well as in material shed from the cells. Inhibitors of carbohydrate metabolism (e.g., 2-deoxy-D-glucose) and temperature-sensitive mutants for transformation will be used as tools in the metabolic studies.